Conservatives, don't ignore McCain

In 1960 Barry Goldwater, the patron saint of modern conservatism, gave some
famous advice to conservative Republicans who were angry with their shabby
treatment at the hands of the Nixonites. Get over it, Goldwater told them.

"Let's grow up, conservatives," Goldwater proclaimed. The embryonic
conservative insurgency within the GOP couldn't let hard feelings get in the
way of the hard work that needed to be done, AUH20 counseled.

Today's conservatives might be well-advised to take similar advice with
regard to the successor to Goldwater's seat, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

In the eyes of his conservative detractors - among whom I've long counted
myself - McCain has a maddening habit of proving his political independence
by winning accolades from the New York Times editorial board. On campaign
finance reform, global warming, opposition to tax cuts and other issues, the
"maverick" has too often racked up points by scoring against his own team.
Sometimes he stands to the right of the GOP, sometimes to the left, but
always he seems to relish breaking ranks for its own sake.

It's an annoying habit, but conservatives should consider their other
options. For example, by any measure, Rudy Giuliani is the more liberal
candidate - indeed, the most liberal serious candidate Republicans have
fielded in decades. But because Giuliani made the right enemies - chief
among them those vexatious New York Times editors - conservatives respect
him, even though they disagree with him on almost everything. Meanwhile,
they give the cold shoulder to McCain, who agrees with them on most of the
important things.

For instance, McCain's been a consistent pro-lifer (which distinguishes him
from pretty much everyone else in the race so far). Until recently, Giuliani
argued passionately for partial-birth abortion as a constitutional right.
McCain has voted to confirm every conservative Supreme Court nominee,
including Robert Bork. He voted "guilty" in Bill Clinton's impeachment
trial. He campaigned for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, even after a
bitter defeat at Bush's hands. Giuliani says he was ideologically simpatico
with Clinton, and he endorsed Democrat Mario Cuomo for governor of New York.

My point isn't merely to make invidious comparisons between McCain and
Giuliani (heck, to liberals they're not invidious at all). I'm actually a
fan of Giuliani, and I think the GOP and the country could do worse in a
president and Republican standard-bearer. But the double standard on the
right seems more than a little self-indulgent.

Giuliani's chief selling point seems to be that he'll have "what it takes"
to be tough in the war on terror. That may well be the case. But Giuliani's
foreign policy experience is, at best, limited. Meanwhile, McCain's
experience is deeper than the rest of the field's combined. There's no
evidence that Giuliani is more of a hawk than McCain, who has spent the last
four years arguing that Bush needs to be more aggressive in Iraq and who
argued for a troop "surge" years before anyone used the word.

After 9/11, Giuliani earned his reputation for showing his sensitive side.
After 9/11, McCain said to our enemies, "May God have mercy on you, because
we won't." How can conservatives argue that Giuliani is The One because he's
willing to be a tough SOB on the war on terror, while deriding McCain
because he's been such an effective SOB to a president and party who, McCain
believes, haven't been tough enough?

In response, McCain has decided to slap conservatives out of their haze. In
what his campaign is billing as major speeches, the first on Wednesday at
the Virginia Military Institute, McCain plans to make his candidacy a
referendum on victory in Iraq. It is a truly bold and courageous gambit. At
a time when the polls advise running away from the war, McCain will embrace
it.

By positioning himself to the hawkish right of the Bush administration,
McCain might be able to make the election a referendum on the future of
Iraq, rather than a referendum on the last four years. As a war hero with
two sons in the military, McCain can argue with obvious moral authority that
while we may have blundered our way into Iraq, it would be an even greater
blunder to get out before winning.

There are many reasons to have reservations about McCain: his love of
regulation, his animosity toward free-marketers or simply his age and
temper. But conservatives who claim that the war trumps everything but won't
even consider pulling the lever for McCain have some growing up to do.

Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Online,and the author of the book The Tyranny of Clichés. You can reach him via Twitter @JonahNRO.
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